Image forming apparatus

Abstract

An apparatus relates to the switching of the flow of image data so as to optimize the data flow in accordance with the connection state of the respective optional boards of a PM unit, a FAX unit, a PRT unit, and an HDD unit. The flow of image data can be switched to optimize the data flow depending on the connection state of various optional boards.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An image forming apparatus having read means for reading an image, and image forming means for forming an image of image data read by said read means on an image formation medium, comprising: a first processing board which is mounted on said image forming apparatus, has a first page memory, and has a first function of forming an image of image data from a first external device on said image formation medium by using said image forming means, and outputting the image data read by said read means to said first external device;   a second processing board which is mounted on said image forming apparatus, has a second page memory, and has a second function of forming the image of the image data from a second external device on said image formation medium by using said image forming means; and   a third processing board which is mounted on said image forming apparatus, and has a third function of storing the image data read by said read means, storing image data in executing the first function, and storing image data in executing the second function,   wherein, when at least said third processing board and said first or second processing board are mounted on said image forming apparatus, the first or second function of said first or second processing board is executed using the third function of said third processing board without using said first or second page memory of said first or second processing board, and   in executing the first or second function, whether the first or second function is used by another function is determined, degrees of urgency are compared, when the first or second function is determined to have high urgency, the first or second function in use having low urgency is temporarily interrupted, after the first or second function having high urgency is performed, operation of the first or second function having low urgency is continued again.   
     
     
       2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination of whether the first or second function is used by another function in executing the first or second function is performed in an interruptible step, and when the first or second function has high urgency, the first or second functions are switched at a corresponding timing. 
     
     
       3. An image forming apparatus having read means for reading an image, and image forming means for forming an image of image data read by said read means on an image formation medium, comprising: a first processing board which is mounted on said image forming apparatus, has a first page memory, and has a first function of forming an image of image data from a first external device on said image formation medium by using said image forming means, and outputting the image data read by said read means to said first external device;   a second processing board which is mounted on said image forming apparatus, has a second page memory, and has a second function of forming the image of the image data from a second external device on said image formation medium by using said image forming means;   a third processing board which is mounted on said image forming apparatus, and has a third function of storing the image data read by said read means, storing image data in executing the first function, and storing image data in executing the second function; and   a fourth processing board which is mounted on said image forming apparatus, has a storage capacity larger than a storage capacity of said third processing board, and has a fourth function of storing the image data read by said read means,   wherein, when at least one of said processing boards is mounted on said image forming apparatus, a flow of the image data is switched to be optimized.   
     
     
       4. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein, at least said first, third, and fourth processing boards are mounted on said image forming apparatus, processing associated with said first processing board is performed regardless of whether said third processing board is used.